Monday, May 4th - Update
Mom is stable and has a few new treatments that are targeting the fungal infection in the left side. They are doing a lovage treatment where they flush the plural space with anti fungal medication via the two chest tubes. That continues until the 8th. She is also on a strong anti fungal iv medication along with medication administered with a bronchoscopy. CT scan on Friday showed improvement on the left side. Right lung is still compromised but in a lot better shape then the left.
We’ve been getting pretty conflicting plans of action from the various doctors and have been pretty frustrated with the inconsistencies from each new conversation. BUT we all want the same thing - whatever is best for mom. The surgical team is calling the shots now and want to aggressively push her to get off the ventilator. So same as before with the ventilator at night and high flow trach collar at day. Everyday they will decrease the vent time. Yesterday she did really well on the high flow and went on three walks (the first two were no rests and only one stop on the last one). Her C02 is getting high but they believe that her co2 levels will be high for her body and that will be her new normal. They will be accessing her on how she feels versus the numbers.
Back pain has been really difficult but they added in a new medication yesterday that seemed to help. The nurses have been extremely amazing with extra massages and helping her stretch. We are still trying our best to be there in person and asking every day. Hopefully one day soon they will allow visitors. When mom woke up from surgery, I explained to her what they found and her response was “God has got this”. She is such a fighter and we have lots of hope. Thank you for all your support, admittedly I’ve been processing a lot and haven’t been able to respond to everything but appreciate all of the messages, calls and prayers.
We will be kicking off Camp Karine in the next few days to help keep mom engaged and entertained. I’ll be sharing a few ways you can get involved if you are interested! Sending love from LA.